Traveling through Malawi

My Family came to Malawi for a bit less than two weeks. DUring this time, I traveled with them around Malawi, seeing some of the attractions that tourists can enjoy in Malawi. Here is what we did:

  1. Lilongwe My parents arrived at in Lilongwe, the capital city of Malawi. Lilongwe is not a city where you can do a lot. It is not very touristy. For me as an volunteer it is a good city to be in when I need to get materials or have some western food, but there is not a lot to do or see. However, one aspect I do recommend for people who want to come to Lilongwe and have some western food is to go to a Restaurant called Mamma Mia. It is a located close to the Sunbird Lilongwe and is an italian place with very good food. I invieted my Neighbour and her child to come down to Lilongwe to meet my parents and my sister. We spent the evening there having some good food and some good conversations where my neighbour was able to tell her story and get to know my parents life. 

2. Blantyre We headed off to Blantyre the next day. People have told me that Blantyre is more of a tourist capital in Malawi than Lilongwe. I can see why. When we arrived in Blantyre, what I noticed firstly was that the architecture in the centre was very westernised. A lot of shops with nice exteriors and a lot more highclass hotels. It was a nice experience, but I am happy I live on the countryside. As a family we went into the centre of town to see the market. The market was close to one of the minibus depots and stretched far. It was a nice experience seeing the market of a bigger city.   3. Majete National Park Next we were off to do a Safari. Planning, we were not sure which National Park we should do. Either Liwonde, which I had heard was the best national park here in Malawi due to its animal density, but while researching we found out that Majete has the big 5 animals. SO we decided on going to that park. We stayed at a lodge called Mkulumadzi, which was right at the heart of the park. We were allowed to do two safari trips per day, in the morning and the evening. The rooms themselves where right at the river, so it meant that we were able to see hippos and crocodiles right from the room and even have wild animals walking by our room. It was my first safari and I was a bit disappointed about the animals that we saw, but it was still lots of fun and really interesting seeing wild animals in their natural habitat, that we normally see in zoos in Europe. During our Safaris we saw Elephant, Kudu, Impalas, Buffalo, Hippos, Crocodile, Warthogs, Falcons, Zebras. The most memorable moment was when we drove through an area and an Elephant Bull was following us. When we then stopped to watch the Elephant, he passed our vehicle about 5 metres away from us. It was awesome t watch a wild elephant so closely.    4. Mt. Mulanje I really wanted to climb Mount Mulanje while I was here in Malawi. Mulanje is the second highest mountain in Africa. So we decided on doing so. We went the Porters race route, meaning going up from Likhubula village to the first hut which is chambe hut. We first stopped at a waterfall close to the village and went for a swim. The water there was ice cold. Really refreshing for a hot day walking. So then we continued going up. The path to be fair was very steep and demanded quite a bit from us. Scenic wise it was breathtaking. Once we reached the hut, we were met by rain. Happy to be in a hut where we could just get out of the rain, we stayed there for the night and would head out across the plateau to Lukenya Hut, which would be about a 4 hour walk. Walking on that path we saw a lot of trees called Zika trees. It seems like there is great deforestation of these trees on Mulanje mountain due to the good smell of it and also they are used for making wood carvings. In Lukenza hut we stayed the night. But before darkness we went to a view point, where we were able to look over the valley. Walking there was not that difficult. Once we reached, we had an awesome view and saw nature unfold itself, as 5 minutes after we reached the viewpoint, the clouds started coming from beneath us to take the view away from us. Awesome to be able to see something like this. Once we returned back to the hut, it started raining. By the time we reached the hut, we were drenched. That night, we witnessed three thunderstorms pass right over out hut. It was spectacular how bright the sky got once lightning struck. The next day we decended down to the valley again. This would be the longest and hardest walk yet as it had rained the day before and the path itself was a long path. The walking was nice but we really had to concentrate as it was slippery. Right at the beginning of the walk, we just saw a bank of clouds covering the valley and we were on top of these clouds. Then, once we decended we walked right into the clouds. Walking down, it had a mystic feeling to it. The vegetation at parts were like in a rainforest and the clouds were always around us, so we had not clear idea how far we had come up till that point. During the descend we had to cross three rivers, which was lots of fun. In all, we enjoyed the walk eventhough it was difficult. I really wanted to climb the highest peak, but in the end we were happy we did the route that we did because of how difficult parts were. To believe we did the path of the porters race in 3 days and the race participants being able to do it in 4 hours was just mindblowing. How they manage to do that this quickly I have no idea. We had a porter and a guide who both did the porters race. They were awesome to watch as for them this hike was like a normal walk to the shops. They would hardly break into any sweat, never slipped. Both were good company when hiking. If you want to go and climb Mount Mulanje, I suggest using the Guide called Lewis Gradison (+265881284852 his number is shared with his consent). He is professional and really helpful when hiking this mountain.   5. Zomba Plateau After leaving Mulanje we drove to Zomba Plateau all dirty and sweaty. I think when we check into the hotel up on the Plateau itself, they were shocked to see such dirty looking people coming to their Hotel. The hotel itself was really good, except for the food. That was not worth the fuss. The view itself was really nice as well. We looked down onto the valley. During the night you were able to see the lights from the city of Zomba beneath. I believe if we would have spent more time in Zomba, we could have gone for hikes which would for sure be nice hikes, but we were tired from Mulanje.   6. Cape Maclear The last stop that we had was Cape Maclear. I have heard so many good things from Cape Maclear through people that have been there and even locals themselves, saying that if you are in Malawi, you definitely should visit Cape Maclear. On the Journey to Cape Maclear we had to stop just outside of Liwonde Town because the president was just on his way from Cape Maclear to Zomba. So we were going the opposite ways. It meant havig to stop for 30 minutes till his convoy passed and we were allowed to continue our journey. Once we reached Cape Maclear, we stayed at a lodge calle Mgoza Lodge. We stayed on beach huts right at the lake. I have to say Cape Maclear scenic wise was nice, however, it was not as nice as people tell me it was. I have been to other parts on the lake here in Malawi and they were nicer. As well, the community is already very spoilt. Everywhere else along our journey, nearly noone asked for money. But in Cape Maclear it was straight away a lot more people asking for money and doing anything they could just to get some. As well, some of the tourist souvenirs were so much more expensive than in other places that I have seen. In a whle, Cape Maclear is fine, but not as good as everyone tells you it is.   So to Conclude, travelling through Malawi with my parents and sister was fun. I was able to see parts of Malawi I have never seen and experience new activities that I have to experienced before. Something that struck me with this trip and still amazes me is the fact that the countryside is still very much unspoilt from western influence. Yes there will be parts which are being modernised or westernised, but for me, it still very much has a charm to it as it is people using basic materials to create something special, something unique. I know I have lived in Malawi to this point 8 months, but this trip really emphasized this. As well, I have now seen more of the warm heart of Africa, which is portrayed through the people and their caring and warm hearted attitude. 

Getting eaten by a crocodile

Yes the title of this entry is scary, but sadly true. Last week, a boy of about 8 years was eaten by a crocodile. 

So let me tell you what exactly happened. I was sitting close to the beach on the Tuesday doing work for an university application when I suddenly heard shouts. I thought that it might be just some fun but the guard came running down to the beach from Floja Foundation saying “Oh No Crocodile”. It seemed like it happened just 50m from where I was sitting. Suddenly all the villagers came down to the beach. Fishermen, who had canoes would push their canoes out onto the lake and start padelling to where this happened. People were standing around the area where the the crocodile had caught the boy in the hope that the boy would reappear. After about 30 minutes of fisherman being out on water, banging on their boats to try and scare the crocodile, we saw the head of the crocodile come out about 100 - 200m from the beach. The fishermen saw that as well and straight away paddled towards where they saw the crocodile, but stopped half way as they were scared and were not correctly equipped to try and fight. After some time I decided I would go home as it went dark and noone was able to see anything.  Next the next thing that I write is something that I was told by a friend. During the night, there were a few fishermen who spent the night trying to find the body. It is malawian tradition that they have to find the body in order for them to burry someone. A different fisherman wanted to go out the lake during the early morning hours (about 5 am) when he saw a crocodile lying on the beach just where his boat was. Next to that crocodile was some sort of item he could not identify. He made so much noise and scared the crocodile awaz. He then found the body of the boy lying there, both legs missing, one arm missing. So the body was then taken to be identified by police before the funeral would commence.  On the next day, the day of the funeral, I wanted to go to the funeral, but then I saw friends of mine creating spears. THey were going to go out onto the lake and hunt for the crocodile, so that noone else could get hurt here. So at around lunch time they had their spears ready and a roup of about 100 men and boys went down to the lake, got their canoes and went out on the lake to search. Thez searched the whole day, but did not once find anything. Till this day, nearly a week later, they have not found the crocodile. This experience was somewhat emotionally draining as I knew the boy through the primary school. As well, I was close to where the crocodile attacked the boy a couple of hours beforehand. It seems like every year in Malawi, around 40 fishermen die due to crocodile attacks and sadly, I witnessed one of them.